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Sunday, September 22, 2013

Agile, change, leadership and high performing teams where the main themes at PW & WCBA in Orlando

For the last few months I have been preparing for the Project World & World Congress for Business Analysts. Really looked forward to this event - even more exciting for me as that was my first trip to United States, so I did not know what to expect. Although the event is over, it's still in my memory. More than 200 project management and business analysis experts from 20 top industries gathered together in the beautiful and sunny Disney's Contemporary Resort, Orlando, for this 3 day premier conference focused on collaboration through practice.

Whenever I attend an event I try to write at least a short wrap up on what happens there and this time someone did it for me - fantastic, saving a couple of hours of my precious time, so I could enjoy my holidays. Let me just highlight 2 keynote speeches and if you have appetite for more, the summary of all presentations, including mine, can be found on the PW& WCBA blog (go to left and search by subject) .

Co-located and face-to-face teams are like proverbial apples and oranges situations

Show respect and personal interest to other cultures

Do not micromanage but coach the team towards self-management by empowering team members.

These two speakers were two ladies, who really left me thinking. First was Naomi Karten talking on Embracing Change: Transforming Ideas and Challenges into Opportunities. Naomi described the steps of a change we go through: starting from jolt, moving through chaos, bumpy adjustments and ending at the new normal. I really like the Virginia Satir's model she presented and I'm planning to use it myself when taking about change.

Her advise:

Chaos is an opportunity, that's life (so true)

Think about planning your change - plan enough time for you and your team before kicking off the change

Be authentic - consistent between what you say and what you do

Be empathetic and listen

Look for common things before and after change

Do not mollycoddle (overprotect)!

More including the interview with Naomi can be found here (you need to scroll down).

Second one was Carey Lohrenz, #Navy’s First Female F-14 Fighter Pilot who kicked off the last day of the conference taking about leadership! Not sure if you are aware but average age of fighter pilots is 19.5 and when Lohrenz started her career in navy there were no women in the combat but she made it, thanks to her:

focus on what matters

winning attitude

being tenacious

being resilient

Lessons in leadership by Carey Lohrenz:

Be a catalyst, question the that to says "I'm not ready yet (do you remember "timing tigers"?), find a third way, be brave, take risks and be committed to excellence! Nothing beats experience and there's only ONE thing that makes a DREAM impossible to achieve: The FEAR of FAILURE! And

Trust appeared in every presentation or workshop

Carey left the audience with a question: what are you going to do? I have my plan in place and you? More including the interview with Carey can be found here .

I also made some friends and got some presents. Thanks a lot all of you for taking care of me and creating a fantastic atmosphere:-). I met great people and enjoyed the great event.

My next post will be on mentoring and I will share some more on speed mentoring session which took place during the conference.